Arts and Entertainment
FEATURE ARTIST
Van Colden I grew up in Cape-Breton, Nova Scotia on a small island known as Isle Madame. There were no ski hills and I did not love the winters. But I did love art. When I was a kid, I submitted entries to just about every art contest I could, often taking the top prize. I absolutely loved drawing and colouring and was certain that one day, I would go to art school and become an artist. But that was not in the cards. When I left for university, reality set in. My parents couldn’t afford to pay for university, so if I was going to go, it would have to be funded solely by student loans. I knew that I would be accruing large debt load, and that eventually I would
have to pay for it. I wasn’t confident that I could do that in a competitive art world, especially one known for its “starving” members. My dream of becoming an artist was curbed. Instead, I studied science and eventually became a physiotherapist. I practiced at a sports clinic for several years. That’s where I met my future husband. Maybe I would have found my way back to the arts, but he was a key player in accelerating this journey. When we started dating, he learned that I loved art, so he bought me an easel that he gifted to me our first Christmas in Fernie. For the very first time, I dabbled with paints. I started with acrylics, and a few years later when we got married in Fernie, I painted a piece for him, of him and his
buddies, ski touring in the Bonnington Range of the Selkirks. His wedding present was my first fully completed work with paints. Life got busy. I learned how to ski, worked at a busy practice, had babies, left the practice, did some health promotions, and pursuing art was pushed to the very back burner. I did, however, take sporadic art courses here and there, including figure drawing and an introduction to oils. I found that I absolutely loved working with oils, but like most busy moms, finding time for my craft was my biggest challenge. It was a few months before COVID, that I really started to paint. I painted a few paintings that I shared on social media,
